The Kyiv city prosecutors are investigating the criminal case involving the abduction of Russian opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev in Ukraine, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
According to the UNHCR, the Ukrainian authorities earlier stopped the investigative actions due to the absence of evidence of a crime, but the Kyiv prosecutors opened a criminal case based on Razvozzhayev’s claim later.
Oldrich Andrysek, regional representative of the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine, told reporters the UNHCR filed several reports with the Ukrainian authorities seeking an investigation into Razvozzhayev’s abduction immediately after the incident.
As a result, the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service reported that the Russian opposition has legally entered and left Ukraine, and ombudsman Valeria Lutkovska said she had no details of that case.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry earlier reported the police had not found any grounds for opening a criminal case based on Razvozzhayev’s disappearance from Ukraine.
On October 17, 2012, the Investigations Committee opened a criminal case against three persons, including Razvozzhayev, an aide to State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, who were accused of enticing mass riots, based on a probe into the information stated in the film Anatomy of Protest-2, which aired on NTV television on October 5.
The investigators were unable to find Razvozzhayev. A federal search warrant was issued for him on October 19. On October 21, Ponomaryov reported that his aide had been detained in Kyiv and taken to Moscow. He said that had happened after the opposition filed a request for political asylum.
